To The Point
We depend on things like pictures, journals, and other knick-knacks to preserve memories. All experiences, good and bad, help shaped who I am today.
Are we ready for tech that can change how we remember moments in our lives?
Memories
My mother died from cancer when I was in high school. It was sudden, sad, and really was a trigger for many other events that helped shaped my life. 24 Years later I don't have many pictures from my childhood, but I really do value every one of them. Especially those that remind me of Mom. As the years go by my memories of her become more precious but they also start to fade. As life continues to go on, I get older and there is more stuff to keep track of. I depend on pictures, mementos, and other items to remind me of her when she comes to mind. I treasure the times when she tucked me in, made my favorite meal, and even when I got in trouble since the memory allowed me to be with her.
Google’s AI Capture
This week my wife sent me an article from the Washington Post. Geoffrey Fowler, a columnist wrote about the new AI tool from Google called Best Take where you can “fix” faces from pictures you take. The idea is, you can have a group shot, where not everyone is looking at the camera, a kid is having a tantrum (or just not into it right now), and Best Take will take recent pictures and fix the picture for you automatically.
Being someone that works in IT, this is a logical feature that makes sense to create given AI’s explosion in capabilities in the last year. But rather than read the news with curiosity I really read this with sadness. (More on that later.)
Guardrails
Best Take currently only uses pictures taken in a short timeframe. So it’s not looking at your entire library to find a smile to fix a photo. I imagine this limitation exists to:
1. Simplify what the AI has to do in order to edit the picture.
2. Tries to assure users that this isn't as creepy as it could be.
But like most things in tech, it’s only a matter of time till the guardrails fade and it really is anything goes which leads me to this conclusion.
Really!!!???
Being a new Dad I am taking so many pictures of my little baby and our family. I would be livid if I knew photos were being manipulated, creating a history that really didn't exist.
(Currently, if you use the feature, the photos taken will be stored on the main album alongside the rest of the photos. So over time if you’re not careful you can have both fake and real pictures in your album without being aware of it.)
For the general public, we use photos to capture moments in time. This tech really has the ability to change that potentially calling our memories into question. That really isn’t ok.
Fowler’s article really does touch on these topics, and is worth the read. I’m writing this to highlight the issues and potential real dangers of tech like this. I’m not worried about AI in a Terminator style “SkyNet” scenario. But I do worry about things like this where it gets harder to determine fact from fiction. I get why people would build this, but I’m sad that someone did without considering the humanity of it all.
This Week’s Challenge
Take time this week to remember, reflect, and memorialize significant times in your life. Allow yourself to live in those memories and cherish them for what they are, part of your own personal history.
